Young prop Jack Bibby, who played off the bench in our 16-12 win against Halifax, won’t be available to play against Whitehaven on Saturday (12.45pm kick off) because his loan agreement has expired and he’s gone back to Wigan Warriors.
We had a short-term agreement with Warriors. It was for two weeks only and the 19-year-old played for us at London Broncos, where he scored a try, and then again in our terrific win against the Panthers at Bower Fold.
“Jack goes back to Wigan with our thanks and best wishes. He did a good job for us,” said Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton.
Just as Bibby scored on debut at Broncos, so another young loan player from a Super League club, centre Jack Croft, scored against Halifax.
His superbly taken try four minutes from the end proved to be the winner and followed his defence-smashing break in the first half which created a try for his winger, Tommy Brierley.
Croft (20) picked up an ankle injury for his troubles, but the good news is that by Tuesday night he was able to train and he is expected to be fit to face Whitehaven at Bower Fold .
Coach Matt Diskin is less confident about the chances of half-back Dave Hewitt making it.
“Chewy” was helped off the field towards the end of the Halifax game with a painful dead leg and his prospects for being fit by Saturday are said to be ‘touch and go’.
Another half-back, James Barran, is still out with a recurrence of groin trouble.
In the forwards, Danny Bridge and Shaun Pick are back in training, but whether they will be considered fit enough to play on Saturday is not yet known.
Looking ahead to the game, in which Roughyeds will be defending an unbeaten home record this season, Diskin said:
“It’s going to be very, very tough.
“The Cumbrians are always very determined and very resolute and we’ll need to be very much on the button.
“A massive part of our preparation will focus on the need for us to be just as switched-on as we were last week.”
You can watch what should be another cracking contest on Our League — free to home season-ticket holders and only £4.95 for everybody else if purchased before the day of the game.
